


i close my eyes, to hear you breathe

by foxmulder_whereartthou



Category: Persona 3, Persona Series
Genre: ?? maybe. probably. yeah, Everybody Lives, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, M/M, Persona 3 Protagonist Lives, Pre-Relationship, Sickfic, Wingfic, anyway this .. was fun 2 write. thank u ryoji brainrot ur actually useful for once, except shinjiro. sorry man, this has actual comfort this time !! i hope
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-20
Updated: 2020-08-20
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:01:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26005354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foxmulder_whereartthou/pseuds/foxmulder_whereartthou
Summary: Ryoji's been recovered from Nyx, but a fragment of her still exists within him, and it's going to take a while before it dissolves on it's own.Gratuitous wingfic, with some RyoMina in there for fun :)
Relationships: Arisato Minato/Mochizuki Ryoji, Mochizuki Ryoji/Persona 3 Protagonist
Comments: 6
Kudos: 58





	i close my eyes, to hear you breathe

Finally, once all of them had come to, shaken and battered but  _ safe,  _ free from Nyx’s grasp on the world, Minato still alive against all odds, the last thing they’d expected to see, covered by something where he lay on the middle of the road, quivering, was Ryoji Mochizuki. 

None of them had ever expected to see him again, period. Not since New Year’s, although they saw his face and heard his words projected through Nyx Avatar. While Aigis fussed over Minato, who’d been exhausted from the battle, and Ken checked over Koromaru, Fuuka and Akihiko decided to approach Ryoji. 

Under the cover of night, it was hard to tell, but they could see his clothes were soaked, and something was draped over him like a blanket.

“Ryoji?” Fuuka had whispered, nervously, clutching her arm where she’d been hit by some stray debris during the battle. “Are you okay?”

It was a stupid question to ask, in hindsight, because at the sound of her voice, he stirred, rolling onto his side and into the light, revealing that he was covered in blood and a strange, dark, gooey substance. 

Oh, and also the four, great wings they’d all seen on Nyx Avatar were sprouting from his back, more of that horrible black glue sticking the feathers together, some of the flesh deteriorated down until they could see bone. Ignoring Fuuka’s protests and Akihiko scrambling over to Mitsuru for help, he weakly lifted himself up onto his knees, grasping feebly at his back, his face screwed up in pain. 

His scarf was blotchy with spots of blood and god knows what else, instinctively trying to stretch out his wings only to double down in pain, gasping wetly. 

Mitsuru quickly took initiative, trusting Aigis to ensure Minato’s safety, crouching down to his level. “Mochizuki, we’re taking you back to the dorms.”

“Thanks,” he said, trying to smile like he used to, spitting blood onto the pavement. “Nyx isn’t-”

Ryoji wheezed for a moment, flexing out his wings as cautiously and carefully as he could. 

“Nyx isn’t completely gone from- from this form, yet. These’ll be gone soon,” he rasped, gesturing behind him, where one of the four had simply become a dead weight, slumped against his side, still caked in gunk and blood, stringing from one wing to the next. 

“I think. I hope,” he added, nervously.

Hesitant to leave him alone, Mitsuru gestured for Junpei and Yukari to sit with him while she called for help. 

“H-Hey, man,” Junpei stuttered, still rattled from fighting Nyx. “You can lie back down, y’know.”

Slowly, gingerly, Ryoji curled up on his side, breathing heavily. 

“Hiii, Yuka-tan,” he smiled, although his eyes were glassy, and there was a trail of blood dripping down from the corner of his mouth to his chin. “What a strange day we’ve had.” 

Surprisingly, Junpei laid his shaking hands over Ryoji’s, concerned and gentle in a way he hadn’t seen before. Yukari absentmindedly carded her fingers through his hair, just as worried as Junpei.

“You don’t have to say anything,” he replied, shushing him, “It’s alright.”

“Whatever you say, Iori,” but he was already drifting off.

* * *

When Minato woke, back in his own room at the dorms, unscathed in the perfect kind of way that he knew somebody must’ve used Mediarama on him. Despite this, however, he felt something ache within him - something pulling him, almost like he was a dog chained to a pole. 

If he focused hard enough, he could picture it; the seal he’d formed, the presence of Nyx beyond it.

Pulling on a new shirt, abandoning his uniform one to deal with later, he wandered towards the Command Room, hoping to find Mitsuru or Akihiko - or at least Koromaru on the way.

Minato certainly didn’t expect to find everyone there, save for Fuuka, all talking nervously.

“Oh, you’re up,” Akihiko said, noticing him in the door, “You feel alright?” 

He blinked. “Yeah, yeah, I’m good. What’re you all talking about?”

Behind him, Fuuka slipped in the door. “He’s stable,” she told them, “I think he’s right - we just have to wait.”

“Thank you, Fuuka,” Mitsuru replied, before turning back to Minato. “It’s Mochizuki - he broke apart from Nyx, but-” She winced. “Something went wrong - he said we just have to wait for the fragment to deteriorate.”

It took a moment to process her words; he was still hung up on the fact that Ryoji was  _ alive,  _ by some magnificent force of nature.

“He’s just down the hall, if you want to see him. Akihiko put him up in one of the spare rooms. He looks a little worse for wear, but we trust that he’ll be fine.”

Letting this information sink in, he just nodded, closing the door behind him and leaning up against it, tilting his head up to the ceiling. 

_ Ryoji’s  _ **_alive,_ ** he thought, insurmountably happy and yet also incredibly nervous.  _ What do I even say? Like oh, hello love of my life! I thought I’d never see you again, but here you are, in my dorm, mysteriously hurt! _

To tell the truth, Minato wasn’t the best at the whole ‘talking to your crush’ thing.

Especially since his crush was Ryoji Mochizuki, who had remembered that he was actually oh, you know, The Appriser, Bringer of Death, (how do you even forget something like that??) and had tried so desperately to convince Minato to murder him only a month before.

Still, he found himself sidling down the hallway, ducking into Ryoji’s room. 

* * *

The first thing Minato noticed, once he’d sat down at the end of Ryoji’s bed, just how Pharos had done so many times for him, wary of the dilapidated wings that were laid carefully atop the bedcovers, was the smell of blood, heavy in the air. 

Ryoji’s eyelashes were so long, and he looked like a maiden from a fairytale, sleeping so peacefully, in spite of the dried blood in his hairline and the monstrous wings digging into his back, making him seem so small in comparison. If Ryoji had stood, and spread them fully, Minato is sure that his wingspan could’ve encircled all of S.E.E.S, and then some. 

“Mina? Mina, is that you?” His voice seems so far away, like he was talking at the end of a hallway. “Hey.”

Ryoji latches onto his sleeve and doesn’t let go, and Minato feels his heart thump in his chest.    
“Hey. How are you?”

When he buries the side of his face further into the covers, his wings twitch like they’re just another limb. “I’m okay. Hurts,” he whispers, and, cruelly, just as he says this, more feathers tumble onto the carpet; more of the skin stretched across his wings dissolves into that disgusting, thick kind of blood. Speak of the devil and he shall appear.

“Why did you come back, Ryoji?”

He looks hurt. “Did you not want me to?”

Minato flinches, and immediately explains. “Yes, yes, of course, I’m so happy you’re here but, you said-”

Staring dazedly off at the wall, Ryoji tugs on his sleeve, and interrupts him. 

“It doesn’t matter what I said. I wanted to stay, and Nyx spit me out.”

_ I love you,  _ he wants to say,  _ I love you. Thank you for coming back.  _ In the end, he only manages the last bit.

“Thank you for coming back. I… missed you.”

Ryoji closes his eyes and hums, and there’s a tune, an Aria of the Soul, buried deep down in the depths of it. Together, but separately, they wonder how to go from here. Beyond now, but forever.

“You’ll stay, won’t you?” he asks, his wings writhing against the sheets, his voice choked.

“Of course I will,” Minato replies, and he’s never meant anything more. When he delegates it to just this room, just this feeling, just Ryoji and him together, it’s easier to believe the scope of saving the world. They saved this, and now they can enjoy it. “Of course I will.”

**Author's Note:**

> we were ROBBED of ryoji with wings in canon ,,,
> 
> hope u enjoyed!! thank u for reading, feedback ALWAYS appreciated <33  
> lov u all !!!!


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